Evidence that will not now be heard was due to be given by two doctors who said they had diagnosed her with a personality disorder.

She was also found to be suffering from post-natal depression.

But the true reason why she decided to suffocate the child may never be known.

On three separate occasions in a 10 day period, Turtle restricted James’ breathing - once at home in the same room as the baby’s father who was totally unaware of what she was doing, and again in the very hospital he had been rushed to for treatment.

Ian Hughes, father of baby James Hughes and former partner of Hannah Turtle (Image: Andrew Price/View Finder Pictures)

But beneath the apparent remorse there was a vindictive streak. When Turtle was told she couldn’t go to baby James’ funeral, she decided to make up an elaborate lie that grieving Mr Hughes himself had been responsible for the baby’s death. She later retracted the claim.

In police interviews she said she had been suffering postnatal depression.

“I just don’t know what came over me. I was just exhausted. I was tired. I wanted help”, she told detectives.

“I didn’t know where to go. I had no intention whatsoever to hurt my son. I just needed help and didn’t know how to get it.

“I thought pinching him was going to be the only way to admit that I needed help.”

Read More

In October 2016, she wrote a letter to police saying she ‘wanted to put everything right’. She apologised for lying about Mr Hughe's involvement in Jame's death.

But her comments to a health worker were the most stark admission yet. She told one that “I’m a murderer, I killed my baby. I attempted to do it twice before and just made him blue by putting my hands over his mouth to stop him breathing, then I killed him.

“I wouldn’t do it again because now I know what happens, I am a dangerous person.”

In a further police interview she confirmed that she had suffocated James when they were alone in the bedroom after Ian had gone to work.

She told police she did not know why she had done it.

“I literally cannot say why I done it because I still don’t know. I went to give him a hug and something just went in me.”

Turtle complained of being unwell, and one one occasion apparently cut herself after buying a razor from the shop in the remand centre she was being kept at.

On Monday, Turtle gave evidence at her own trial. But the court never resumed for the afternoon session, and on Tuesday morning, Turtle was brought back into the dock after what the judge Clive Lewis said had been a “a turn of events” in the case.

The charges were read to Turtle again, and she pleaded guilty to all counts.

Today (February 22) Turtle was sentenced to life in prison and must serve a minimum term of 14 years and nine months, minus the time spent on remand, before being eligible for parole.